Sanjay, Deepa, Saavan, and Mira Acharya – Washington, D.C.

We had just had our second child and when we had our first child we went solar in the house we were living in at the time, we thought it was a small thing we could do to help them grow up in a healthy planet.

Why did you decide to go solar?

Several reasons, first we had just had our second child and when we had our first child we went solar in the house we were living in at the time, we thought it was a small thing we could do to help them grow up in a healthy planet. Second, the financial returns looked great and even better once D.C. raised the RPS payouts, we would break even on our system in ~4 years with the SRECs, power savings, and tax incentives, and that’s not even including the value it would add to our house.

Why did you decide to go solar with the co-op?

Having the backing of the co-op gives you some clout with vendors as minor hiccups are bound to occur.

Has anything surprised you about going solar?

How fast the interconnection process has become. When we first went through the process, Pepco really dragged their feet, but the timeline from the beginning of installation to completing our interconnection and getting our net meter to start lowering our energy bill was less than six weeks on this project

Do you have any data on your solar system’s performance?

Yes, since we went live in May we’ve produced 790 kWh in May and 960 kWh in June.

How much was your electric bill before and after going solar?

Our June 2016 bill was $191.44, our June 2017 bill was $101.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Going solar has been fantastic and the co-op has been a great partner for us to go solar with. We hope that incentives and interest continue in D.C. so that more of our fellow residents can go solar.